Press: Trump is running out of gas

Pssst. Did you hear? Donald Trump held another rally last week. Saturday night. In Conroe, Texas. 

What? You didn’t even know about it? Don’t worry. You’re not alone. Almost nobody, except for the most die-hard Trump supporters, heard about it ahead of time. Like his earlier MAGA event on Jan. 16 in Arizona, Trump’s Texas rally was one of the best-kept secrets in American politics. 

Of course, the faithful turned out in big numbers. But that’s all. Trump was simply preaching to the choir. You couldn’t watch it on TV, either. None of the networks carried the rally live. Neither did CNN or MSNBC. Not even Fox News. Only Fox Nation, the streaming service, and Newsmax, the 24/7 Trump cable channel, bothered to air the rally. And, other than the Houston Chronicle, there was almost zero print coverage. No wonder. It was the same old crowd being fed the same old lies.  

In fact, you wouldn’t have heard about the Texas rally at all if Trump hadn’t pledged that IF he runs again and IF he were reelected, he’d pardon some of the over 725 people who’ve been charged with crimes for their involvement in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol – a promise that was immediately denounced by New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a Trump ally. 

Isn’t it comforting to know that there are at least three Republicans who believe that assaulting a police officer does not merit a presidential pardon? 

For the second time in two weeks, Donald Trump laid an egg. And that should tell us something: The Trump show is getting old. It’s like expecting people to still watch “Dancing with the Stars.” Yeah, it was fun at first, but it soon got old. So has Trump. He’s so yesterday. He’s only been out of office a year, yet every day fewer and fewer people care about what he says or does anymore. Especially because he sounds like such a broken record. 

Which leads to the obvious conclusion – and, no matter what you think, it’s not just wishful thinking on my part – DONALD TRUMP IS RUNNING OUT OF GAS. 

That’s clear to me for three reasons. First because, Trump still refuses to admit he lost in 2020. Which is a growing problem for Republicans. They say they want to focus on the future, yet they stick with Donald Trump, and he’s stuck in the past. In Arizona and Texas, all he talked about was: the election was stolen; Jan. 6 wasn’t all that bad; and people are picking on me.  

None of that is a winning message for 2022 or 2024 – as even a few brave Republicans, notably Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, are now willing to admit publicly. “With America on the wrong path, the stakes are too high to double down on failure,” Hogan said recently. Other leading Republicans will soon join them in breaking from Trump. 

And finally, Trump is more and more mired down in legal troubles he can’t just wish away. Every day, the Jan. 6 inches closer and closer to charging Trump himself, which the Justice Department may already be considering. New York Attorney General Letitia James has clearly intensified her investigation of the Trump organization. And a Georgia grand jury’s been convened to investigate charges of election interference by Trump. 

It won’t be long before the majority of Republicans conclude that Donald Trump is more of a liability than an asset. In fact, he already is. 

Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”